Former Indian Major General Warns of Turkey-Pakistan-Saudi Pact, Urges Stronger Ties With Iran
Retired Indian Maj. Gen. Gagan Deep Bakshi warned that the new defense pact involving Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia poses a concern for India, while arguing that New Delhi should strengthen ties with Iran despite pressure from Israel and the United States.
Bakishi warned that a developing “Sunni NATO” could endanger India, arguing that New Delhi should deepen its ties with Iran regardless of pressure from Israel or the United States.
“A Sunni NATO comprising Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan has been established in the Middle East, in Mecca, and that is a serious cause for concern,” Bakishi said in an interview with New Delhi-based media.
Bakishi said Shiite Iran provides India with an important strategic counterweight to Pakistan, which he described as a major security concern alongside China.
“We very much need Shi’ite Iran to be on our side because Pakistan is our primary security headache,” he said.
He contrasted Israel’s concerns about Iran with India’s view of nuclear-armed Pakistan, which he described as a “fundamentalist, jihadist Islamic state” possessing 180 nuclear warheads. Bakishi said Israel had not demonstrated comparable concern about Pakistan’s arsenal as it had about Iran’s nuclear program.
Bakishi also pointed to growing military cooperation between Turkey and Pakistan, claiming Ankara supplied Pakistan with nearly 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles and assisted in operating them during Operation Sindoor. Turkey also sent a warship to Karachi during the confrontation, he said.
“This was already a ‘Sunni NATO,’ with or without an agreement. Turkey and Pakistan are already in an undeclared practical alliance,” Bakishi said.
While describing Israel as a friend, Bakishi said India should not subordinate its national interests to either Jerusalem or Washington.
“We are not the 51st state of the United States, and for that matter, we are also not an appendage or client state of Israel,” he said. “We are friends, certainly. But vassals? No, sir.”
Bakishi particularly rejected any expectation that India would abandon ties with Iran because of the Israel-Iran war: “You cannot tell us: Throw Iran away because you are at war with it,” he said.
He explained that Iran provides India with land routes to Central Asia and Afghanistan that New Delhi considers vital: “We cannot close these land routes because Israel is at war with Iran,” he said.